In a final irony, Western Union, which flashed good and bad news to Americans in distinctive yellow envelopes for a century and a half, quietly announced its decision to end the service on its website.

The announcement, effective on January 27, consigned the telegram, which told generations of Americans of births, deaths, or the loss of a loved one on a foreign battlefield, reflects the new era of communications on the Internet, by email, and with mobile phones and fax machines.

Western Union's parent company was formed in 1851, and the firm adopted its now famous name five years later. By 1861 it was providing coast-to-coast telegraph communications during the American Civil War.